- Neighborhood preference in D.C. charter schools would be allowed under bill
- Proposal would let D.C. charter schools favor neighborhood kids [Kipp DC mentioned]
- The Washington Post to Host Discussion Series on the State of Education in the Washington Area
- Effort to hold back poorly-reading D.C. third-graders stalls
The Washington Post
By Emma Brown
April 9, 2013
New D.C. public charter schools would be allowed to give admissions preference to neighborhood children under a bill introduced Tuesday by D.C. Council Member David Grosso (I-At Large). Charter schools currently enroll kids from across the city, holding lotteries if there is more demand than space. That approach gives students equal access to admission — but it can also shut them out of the school down the street.
Under Grosso’s bill, newly established charter schools would be able to give admissions priority to students living in the same “neighborhood cluster” as the school is located. The Office of Planning defines 39 such neighborhood clusters. Charter schools’ admission and enrollment procedures have drawn more scrutiny as their share of the public school population has risen. Charters now enroll 43 percent of the city’s students.
Some charter school leaders and advocatesoppose neighborhood preference, citing concern that it would limit poor children’s chances to go to good schools located in affluent areas. Other school leaders support a preference, saying it would give them a way to forge stronger ties to the communities in which they work.
Proposal would let D.C. charter schools favor neighborhood kids [Kipp DC mentioned]
The Washington Examiner
By Rachel Baye
April 9, 2013
Students who live near a top-performing charter school would have greater odds at winning a seat in the school's lottery under a bill introduced in the D.C. Council Tuesday. Present law requires D.C. public charter schools to open enrollment to all students in the District through a lottery system. The bill at-large Councilman David Grosso introduced Tuesday would change that by allowing new charter schools to give preference to students who live in the school's neighborhood.
The change would not affect the city's 57 existing charter schools, on 102 campuses, but would apply to any school opening after the new law is signed. Participating schools would be required to offer at least 20 percent of open seats or 40 seats, whichever is smaller, to students in the neighborhood. A school's neighborhood would be defined using the same geographic boundaries used to determine which DC Public Schools guarantee seats to students in an area.
Grosso said he proposed the measure at the urging of charter schools that would like to be able to develop a stronger relationship with the surrounding neighborhood. "Parents are choosing to go to charter schools, as it is, all over the city," he said. "This just allows them to do it in their own neighborhood if they want to." Grosso pointed to Kipp D.C., which has nine campuses spread across Wards 2, 7 and 8, as an example of a charter school that had expressed interest in giving preference to neighborhood students. Since Kipp is already established in the District, though, Kipp would not be able to take advantage of the measure as proposed.
The bill opposes recommendations made in December by a committee that was overseen by the Public Charter School Board and included Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson and Interim Deputy Mayor for Education Jennifer Leonard. A neighborhood preference is unnecessary since 35 percent of charter school students already go to a school within a mile of home and 49 percent go to a school within their ward, the committee explained. Limiting charters' open-enrollment policy would likely hurt students in poorer neighborhoods, said Scott Pearson, charter board executive director. Thousands of kids travel every day from Wards 7 and 8 to schools west of the Anacostia River, he explained. "A neighborhood preference in an affluent ward ... would shut out those kids from east of the river."
Several other cities allow charters to give preference to neighborhood students, with restrictions. In New Orleans, for example, only charter schools that offer kindergarten through eighth grade are required to give neighborhood students priority, according to the D.C. committee report. But these cities are exceptions to the rule, said Todd Ziebarth, senior vice president for state advocacy and support at the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools. "The rule [is] that charters are typically open enrollment," he said.
The Washington Post
April 9, 2013
The Washington Post will host a three-part discussion on the state of education in the Washington area. The ‘Behind the Headlines’ community forum series will convene local policy makers, educators, parents and student advocates to discuss a range of issues including improving the quality of schools, school takeover and reconstruction legislation, overcrowded school facilities, and teacher evaluation systems, to name a few. This effort is part of The Washington Post's ongoing commitment to providing readers in the Washington area with timely, informative discussions and original Post journalism about issues that impact their lives. “The Post’s education coverage over the years has endeavored to present a balanced look at the landscape of education in the Washington area - - the accomplishments, issues and forecasts for the future,” said Vernon Loeb, Local Editor for The Washington Post. “Through these forums, we are able to facilitate a dialogue between education experts and the community as we work together to ensure a quality education for area students.”
The first forum in the series will take place on Wednesday, April 24, 2013 from 6:30-8:30pm at The Washington Post building at 1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC. The discussion will be led by Natalie Hopkinson, contributor to The Washington Post.
Experts on the panel include the following:
· Emma Brown, DC schools reporter, The Washington Post
· David Catania, DC Councilmember At Large and Chairman, Committee on Education
· Daniel del Pielago, education organizer, Empower DC
· Scott Pearson, executive director, DC Public Charter School Board
· Cathy Reilly, director, Senior High Alliance of Parents, Principals and Educators (S.H.A.P.P.E)
Admission to the event is free, but seating is limited. To RSVP and submit a question for the panel, please e-mail behindtheheadlines@washpost.com.
In addition to the discussion focused on the District, other planned Behind the Headlines forums will explore local perceptions on education in Prince George’s County, MD and Fairfax County, VA.
The Washington Examiner
By Alan Blinder
April 9, 2013
Confronted with unflinching and potent opposition, a D.C. councilman on Tuesday abandoned his "emergency" effort to require the city's third-grade students to prove their reading skills before they could move on to the fourth grade. "We have a crisis in the city," at-large Councilman Vincent Orange said. "If we continue doing the same thing over and over again, we're going to continue getting the same results." Orange's proposal, an emergency measure that did not meander through the typical legislative process and would have been law for 90 days, called for students in kindergarten, first grade, second grade and third grade to take annual standardized tests to evaluate their reading proficiency. Students with unacceptable scores at the end of third grade would have not been promoted to fourth grade.
But facing resistance from Mayor Vincent Gray and key lawmakers, Orange agreed to withdraw his legislation moments after he warned of a faltering school system.
Orange, who acknowledged it was unlikely lawmakers would have approved his bill, later said his decision to pull his proposal was a bid for greater discussion, not a sign of surrender. "There's now going to be a big hearing on the subject matter," Orange said. "It's part of the legislative process." But the measure's foes, including at-large Councilman David Catania, said they were pleased with its demise.
"I don't believe a piecemeal approach on an emergency basis is the most thoughtful way to address what has been systemic failure," said Catania, the chairman of the council's education committee. "We need to take our time and look at what the evidence suggests works." And Catania said he believed Orange's proposal was little more than a publicity ploy. "The way in which this was approached was not a guarantee to actually get results," Catania said. "It was a guarantee to get attention." Catania was not alone in his opposition. In a letter on Tuesday, Gray warned that the proposal's $62 million cost made it untenable.
"The goals of ensuring a high-quality curriculum and ongoing assessments of academic progress must be part of our ongoing efforts," Gray wrote to lawmakers. "Nevertheless, considering the fiscal impact and the repetition of existing programs and services, I cannot support this legislation." Orange introduced similar, permanent legislation in January, and that measure could still receive lawmakers' approval as they continue to grapple with low reading scores in D.C. schools. Reading proficiency among the District's third-graders fell slightly in 2012, when only 40.5 percent of those students could read at grade level.
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